Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

More than a minute later, Tapu Lele flew out from the sea, looking utterly disheveled with strands of seaweed still clinging to its body. It glared furiously at Moltres and Julian.

It had lost—it actually lost to this so-called “tool bird”.

Still, Tapu Lele wasn’t the kind to be a sore loser. It flew up to Julian and Moltres and said, "I lost. You may leave this island at any time."

According to the rules, if the challenger wins, they earn the right to leave. If they lose, they must remain on the island.

Moltres: "Well? How’s that?"

It was gloating. The bird was absolutely gloating, thrilled after beating Tapu Lele?

Tapu Lele took a deep breath, clearly unwilling to speak to this smug little bird.

It pulled out a stone and tossed it to Julian: “This is your token for defeating me.”

Holding the still-damp stone, Julian seriously suspected it had just picked it up off the seafloor moments ago.

“So your tokens are really just whatever you find lying around?”

At least Tapu Fini had given him a shell. But this one? Just a plain rock. Shameless.

Tapu Lele: “The token doesn’t matter. What matters is that you defeated me.”

Wow, it was a smooth talker too.

Julian didn’t bother arguing. He’d seen through these Island Guardians by now.

He got on Moltres and left Akala Island, but instead of flying to either of the two unexplored islands, he headed straight for Poni Island.

---

On Poni Island, Pierce and the other three had already been there for over two months. Right now, the four of them were sitting on the beach, and none of them looked happy.

Just moments ago, the four had challenged Tapu Fini one after another, and without exception, they all lost.

“Just give me a little more time. I swear I can beat it,” Asher said, unwilling to admit defeat.

“Come on, stop bluffing. Out of the four of us, Rowan has the best shot. You, a Dragon-type specialist, against a Fairy-type?”

Ember nearly burst out laughing at Asher’s words.

Dragon-type moves had no effect on Fairy-types, and with Tapu Fini’s level being higher, Asher’s chances of winning were basically nonexistent.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s Abomasnow had greatly powered up after obtaining the Ice-type treasure, the Ice Core, and had now reached peak Elite level—just a step away from pseudo-Champion.

Once it broke through, it might actually stand a chance against Tapu Fini.

Asher was left speechless by Ember’s sharp words.

'Damn it… why does the world even have Fairy types? They're even more annoying than Ice types!'

He cursed in his heart: 'Dear heavens, I’m willing to have Rowan stay single forever to curse every Fairy- and Ice-type trainer out there—may every man get cheated on and every woman never get married.'

Thinking of that, a mischievous grin crept onto Asher's lips.

"You're thinking of something bad, aren't you?"

Rowan stared at him, expressionless.

"N-no, what are you talking about?" Asher shook his head frantically in denial.

But the more he acted like that, the more Rowan felt this guy was definitely up to no good.

"I wonder how Julian is doing," Pierce said.

The four of them had been separated from Julian for over a month now.

Not long ago, the sounds of battle had echoed from Akala Island—so loud they could even hear it from where they were.

The four suspected it most likely had something to do with Julian.

But they couldn’t get over there and had no idea what had actually happened.

Now, after all this time, they couldn’t help but worry about Julian’s situation.

"He’ll be fine. With his skills, there’s no way anything could’ve happened to him," Ember said.

"That new First-class Legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo, that appeared in Haitian City—it’s connected to him. His trump cards are way bigger than ours."

Even though the official sources in Drakoria had denied the connection and wiped the information from the internet, three out of the four here came from major families, and the fourth was a military-trained prodigy.

They knew much more than the average person.

Mewtwo was linked to Julian—in fact, it was highly likely Julian had been the one to summon it.

And what shocked them most was—Julian could actually command Mewtwo.

Normally, commanding a First-class Legendary came at the cost of your lifespan.

Only those truly acknowledged by such a being could wield their power without consequence.

And Julian had done exactly that.

So in their eyes, there was no way he could be in danger.

With a First-class Legendary backing him, who in this world—aside from another Legendary—would dare mess with him?

"Yeah… I guess I was overthinking it," Pierce said with a smile.

"Let’s focus on how to beat Tapu Fini. We don’t want to still be stuck here when Julian has already left the last island," Ember said.

They had long since explored every corner of Poni Island, collecting plenty of treasures along the way.

For the past half-month, they’d stopped searching for treasures and shifted their focus entirely to defeating Tapu Fini.

On average, they challenged Tapu Fini once a day.

By now, each of them had fought it a dozen times or more.

They had a solid grasp of its moves, fighting style, and even its personality—yet they still couldn’t beat it.

The main reason was simple: the level difference between them and Tapu Fini was just too great.

Their Pokémon were all capable of fighting above their weight class. Against an ordinary pseudo-Champion, they would’ve won long ago.

But Tapu Fini was no ordinary opponent.

As an island guardian, its strength was exceptional.

Against a being like that, their usual “punching above their weight” advantage basically didn’t apply.

In this case, the only way forward was to grow stronger.

"Or maybe... we could try something underhanded."

"I recently noticed that Tapu Fini really likes a kind of berry that grows on the west side of the island," Pierce said.

"What if we laced the berries with something... and then challenged it right after?"

Ember, Rowan, and Asher all turned to stare at Pierce in disbelief.

"If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, I’d have thought Julian was here," Ember said, eyes wide.

It was hard to believe that the usually upright and serious Pierce actually had such sneaky ideas—he even brought up 'drugging', of all things.

Julian: 'What does this have to do with me?'

Pierce blushed slightly, but he quickly straightened up with a solemn expression.

"When facing an enemy, we must be willing to do whatever it takes. Right now, Tapu Fini is the obstacle in our path."

Honestly, the way he said it made it sound almost noble and righteous.

"So… what kind of drug should we use?" Asher asked.

"Normal stuff probably won’t work on Tapu Fini. But I have got some high-grade laxatives—specially developed by military researchers."

Rowan’s expression turned strange. "Why would the military even develop something like that? And why did you bring it into a secret realm?"

"When facing an enemy, we must be willing to do whatever it takes," Pierce repeated firmly.

Honestly, if it helped weaken Tapu Fini, laxatives weren’t totally an acceptable strategy.

Plus, maybe it’d do Tapu Fini’s digestive system some good.

"Does this stuff have any taste?" Ember whispered.

"Odorless, flavorless, and completely undetectable—until it hits. And when it does, it’s like the River bursting its banks. No force on earth can stop it."

The other three: ⊙ｏ⊙

*****

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